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Topic: Public Domain Marketing Ideas (Read 4681 times)

To anyone that's been following the program for any period of time greater than zero, the lack of creative ideas from the marketing department is an overwhelming constraint to the success of our athletic teams. While they probably have shackles from a higher power (Charlotte Title IXers) they rarely do themselves any favors (Football Pep Rally during Panthers-Broncos game).

So as a passive aggressive gift to the marketing department, feel free to share pro bono any ideas you have for the greater good.

Marketing, we know you read this, feel free to take any ideas you read in this thread and implement them.

First Idea: Take advantage of the new light rail next season with a cooperative effort with CATS. Somehow bundle game tickets, LYNX tickets, and tickets to the alumni pavilion tailgate in a fair deal that's cheaper than the sum of all parts.

Second Idea: Charlotte has an NFL team, an NBA team and a NASCAR team. There is no excuse that during basketball season there isn't a Panthers Night, a Hornets Night, and a NASCAR Night. NFL & NASCAR offseasons overlap with College Basketball Season and the NBA has the All-Star Break. Get some players/coaches/drivers into the building and promise a pre-game and post-game autograph opportunities. They all have sponsors that would love the chance to get their brand to more people so the overhead should be pretty low.

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

They had an arrow on the scoreboard last year to try to get this chant going. It still didn't really work.

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

They had an arrow on the scoreboard last year to try to get this chant going. It still didn't really work.

Getting the cheerleaders and band to do it with the scoreboard would go a long way.

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

They had an arrow on the scoreboard last year to try to get this chant going. It still didn't really work.

. They had it up Saturday against MTSU......the cheerleaders right beside the fieldhouse didn't even notice it.

this is WAAAAY outside any area of competence i have, but would it be possible to record a "FORTY" and "NINERS" to be played over the system to help prompt the sheep?drastic problems sometimes require drastic solutions. it might embarrass the crowd into chanting anyway!

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"Trouble? Life is trouble! If you want to live--you go out and LOOK for trouble!" (Zorba the Greek)

this is WAAAAY outside any area of competence i have, but would it be possible to record a "FORTY" and "NINERS" to be played over the system to help prompt the sheep?drastic problems sometimes require drastic solutions. it might embarrass the crowd into chanting anyway!

Without more butts in seats, this cheer is always going to sound poor.

Need to get creative on getting people to buy. I recently got an email from the Checkers offering a ticket for $49 to each of their next 10 home games. The actual seat assignment would be made on day of game and could anywhere in the arena. For that price, who cares where the seat is? Obviously 10 game package wouldn't make sense for football but could sell 3 games at a rediculous low price.

this is WAAAAY outside any area of competence i have, but would it be possible to record a "FORTY" and "NINERS" to be played over the system to help prompt the sheep?drastic problems sometimes require drastic solutions. it might embarrass the crowd into chanting anyway!

Quote

That is a good idea. They have played the Forty Niners with arrow all season long. The problem is the speed and lack of coordination with cheerleaders, gold dusters and band. Right now the Forty Niners is so quick people can't keep up. Sound travels slowly across a football field. The scoreboard is timed for six people sitting across the room from each other. It is an attempt but a very pitiful one.

My idea is pretty innovative (sarcasm). How about a billboard like the NC State one that says Statement. It is about two minutes from our campus on I85. I see just about every team advertising on billboards between the Triangle and Charlotte including NC A&T, Elon and Winston-Salem State. I have never seen a Charlotte board outside of Charlotte.

Just to be the Debbie Downer... the marketing department gets paid the same, and keeps their job, whether 1 fan or 20,000 show up. They have zero incentive to perform better.

I've been to coaches shows in Uptown at Black Finn where the only people in the audience were me and the AD / IMG staff; meanwhile, the downstairs is wall-to-wall bodies. Instead of handing out $5 drink coupons on the sidewalk to get butts inside, they all expressed an attitude of indifference and spent the hour on their phones, not even pretending to listen to what the coach was saying, except to clap exuberantly at commercial break, to give the appearance of a larger crowd on the radio.

NWA started the St. Patrick's Day Parade participation. That's a $50 entrance fee annually to expose your brand to a 100,000 pairs of eyeballs in Charlotte. Not exactly marketing rocket science to tie a green / white brand into that.

I mentioned the light rail advertising/discount in the other thread too. I also think what could help as well is discounted parking. I've heard from different ppl about parking prices being an issue. I know the majority of the decks and cash deck are roughly $20. I think if we can utilize some of the further out lots away from the stadium for a cheaper price, that could be beneficial. Maybe $5- $10 dollar parking. Hate to keep using panthers as an example but further away from the stadium, the cheaper the parking.

To piggyback off the parking topic, I think it could be a cool idea to be able to have discount bundles that consist of football season tickets and parking tickets and/or alumni Pavillion tickets. The idea behind it is the more you bundle, the more you save. So if I buy season tickets to all the home games, a union deck parking pass for all games, and alumni Pavillion for all home games, fans should be rewarded with a nice discount for bundling.

I can think of this kind of stuff all day long, but I know it's probably easier said than done, but at this point, doesn't hurt the AD to try something new.

cltniners

The self-sustaining economy we’ve been looking for.Judy: That’s right. Phil: How much fresh cash did we make?Judy: Fresh cash! Uh, well, zero. Zero if you’re talking about U.S. currency. People didn’t really seem interested in spending any of that.Phil: That’s okay. So, uh, when they run out of the bojangles, they’ll come back in and they’ll have to buy more 49er Dollars. Keepin’ it moving.Judy: Right. That is assuming, of course, that they will come back here and eat chicken.Phil: They will! They will because we’ll re-distribute these to the chat boarders. Thus ensuring them coming back in, keeping the money moving.Judy: Well, no, but if we just re-distribute these, people will continue to eat for free.Phil: Okay…Judy: How does this work, Phil?phil: The money keeps moving in a circle.

Start by renting a highly visible billboard on 85 near campus on a yearly basis. Starting around the spring game, have it showing our home schedule and ticket package info (EXAMPLE: Season tix start as low as $99.) (This would also require us to get our ticket packages together prior to the spring game.) Update it with new photos showing the home football schedule during the summer as the season gets closer, maybe even include promotions on it like Military Day and Homecoming. After Thanksgiving, the board can be dedicated to men's hoops and then maybe fulfilling our internal Title IX requirements. Start the cycle over again in April with football.

I realize billboards may be expensive, but I view it as just the cost of doing business. There is no doubt that our marketing budget needs to increase and that goes back to fundraising. Selling football needs to be the #1 priority, and 90% of our marketing effort needs to go there.

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

They had an arrow on the scoreboard last year to try to get this chant going. It still didn't really work.

. They had it up Saturday against MTSU......the cheerleaders right beside the fieldhouse didn't even notice it.

It works when the Panthers do it because they allow enough time between the two words for sound to travel to the other side of the stadium. Our execution is rushed. By the time one side is saying the second syllable in "FORTY" the other side is yelling "NINERS" and then the crowd is off from what the screen is showing almost right away creating confusion. This is a hilariously easy fix.

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FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LIGHT UP THE DICKSON GATE GREEN. Maybe even a combination of green, white and gold but DO IT.

There are few things that the University marketing folks and the AD marketing folks agree on but one thing they have in common unconditionally is the primary color of our shitty brand. USE IT.

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

They had an arrow on the scoreboard last year to try to get this chant going. It still didn't really work.

. They had it up Saturday against MTSU......the cheerleaders right beside the fieldhouse didn't even notice it.

It works when the Panthers do it because they allow enough time between the two words for sound to travel to the other side of the stadium. Our execution is rushed. By the time one side is saying the second syllable in "FORTY" the other side is yelling "NINERS" and then the crowd is off from what the screen is showing almost right away creating confusion. This is a hilariously easy fix.

---

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LIGHT UP THE DICKSON GATE GREEN. Maybe even a combination of green, white and gold but DO IT.

There are few things that the University marketing folks and the AD marketing folks agree on but one thing they have in common unconditionally is the primary color of our shitty brand. USE IT.

A couple seasons back, I noticed that we sometimes had trouble getting a 40 - 9ers chant going across the football stadium. As many of you know, this is a common chant throughout many sports(i.e Keep - Pounding which the panthers use). If anyone has been to a Panthers game, you will notice the Keep Pounding Chant is complimented by a Huge Keep on the screen which would entice fans to scream "keep" and then conversely the word "pounding". I drew up a diagram for the "Forty" and "Niners" chant for the marketing department but have yet to see anything deployed. Simple and cheap way to make the game day experience and home crowd advantage better. Also, our music before and during the game is absolutely GARBAGE. Marketing should attend a panthers game and just follow accordingly within reason(I understand we have not even 1/100th of their money).

They had an arrow on the scoreboard last year to try to get this chant going. It still didn't really work.

. They had it up Saturday against MTSU......the cheerleaders right beside the fieldhouse didn't even notice it.

It works when the Panthers do it because they allow enough time between the two words for sound to travel to the other side of the stadium. Our execution is rushed. By the time one side is saying the second syllable in "FORTY" the other side is yelling "NINERS" and then the crowd is off from what the screen is showing almost right away creating confusion. This is a hilariously easy fix.

---

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LIGHT UP THE DICKSON GATE GREEN. Maybe even a combination of green, white and gold but DO IT.

There are few things that the University marketing folks and the AD marketing folks agree on but one thing they have in common unconditionally is the primary color of our shitty brand. USE IT.

First Idea: Take advantage of the new light rail next season with a cooperative effort with CATS. Somehow bundle game tickets, LYNX tickets, and tickets to the alumni pavilion tailgate in a fair deal that's cheaper than the sum of all parts.

Second Idea: Charlotte has an NFL team, an NBA team and a NASCAR team. There is no excuse that during basketball season there isn't a Panthers Night, a Hornets Night, and a NASCAR Night. NFL & NASCAR offseasons overlap with College Basketball Season and the NBA has the All-Star Break. Get some players/coaches/drivers into the building and promise a pre-game and post-game autograph opportunities. They all have sponsors that would love the chance to get their brand to more people so the overhead should be pretty low.

Some new ideas I had while drafting my cover letter to be the next AD:

In an attempt to engage with young alumni, as well as the under 35 transplants in Charlotte, we need to partner with Charlotte's many fantastic craft brewers.

During each basketball season, after one Saturday afternoon host as many local brewers as possible in a beer tasting event, and competition for Official Craft Beer of the Charlotte 49ers.

The craft brewers are always creating new beers, we should get in the door to give beer 49er themed names, and have then debuted during our event. Participants would receive drink tickets, and at the end will vote on their favorite, and that beer will be sold at football games in the fall (along with the major domestics for the normies and nascar dads).

We also need to create active fans in future students. There are hundreds of thousands of kids enrolled in the public school systems around Charlotte. We have an average of 14-16 home games each year, along with Panthers Night, Hornets Night, Panthers Night & Niner Brew day, each public school system should have its own night at Halton Arena [i.e. CMS Night] where students can bring their student IDs and their whole family will be able to purchase $2 tickets to that game.

On top of giving each school system a game, we need a Future Alumni Night. When kids apply/get accepted/enroll to attend UNC Charlotte they'll receive a card to use as Future Alumni. This will be the same deal, $2 tickets for the whole family that they can us all season.

DJ for basketball gamesStudent surveys for music they'd like to hear at football games before the season/game startsCoordination between cheerleaders/band/board at football game Cards with "Forty" and "Niner" that are given to cheerleaders on opposite sides of the stadium (for properly leading the chants)Chant sheets for footballBand going through the crowd during basketball gamesHave SMA be cheer/ chant leaders in front of student sectionsHighlight packages play throughout the game"On this day", highlight big Niner victories that occurred in the past on the date a game is being playedMore skits/interactions between the action (comedy skits were at the Dayton game, was entertaining and kept the crowd engaged), same idea for footballMore highlight videos showing the tailgating atmosphere, perception can help bring people out (instead of just attending the game).Cleaner graphics on Twitter (pictures are too cluttered)Pregame meals open to everyone who wants to pay (for basketball), able to reserve tables/seats in advance for group eventsStudents in the tunnel (Bring students down into the tunnel when the team is running out, have them do chants/stuff)Encourage student section to stand up (for basketball), have fake "refs" go through the student section and hand out infractions in areas where lots of students are standing and few students are sittingShirt trade in offered during SOARDuring the week give out free Niner gear for students who are wearing other schools colors (do it consistently)Have tailgating events for non football stuff, such as soccer and baseball. You have the tent, might as well use itFind specific bars around campus and figure out a way to stream the game to their screens, even if it isn't on TV.Hand out SWAG to local bars to hang on their walls Hand out SWAG to the surrounding neighborhoods that contain Charlotte Alums (try to time it specifically after big wins to capitalize on school pride)Hand out SWAG to local fire departments/PDs, show thanksOffer free tickets to middle schoolers/highschoolers(school events)Advertise sections for football/basketball games for team building for the multiple big corporations in the area (we do this with BofA, lets do it with some of the other companies)Paint the campus green, hang flags in dorms, put stickers on stuff, hand out "tickets" to cars with other schools decals offering replacements, paints sections of concrete with 49er symbolsOffer to help pay for lettered shirts with Charlotte colors/logos on it for the fraternities/sororitiesTry to get local bands to come out and play at tailgatesHave the band march (drive) around campus to different areas that are tailgating to play musicGo into big freshman lecture classes with football coach/band to get students to come outTry to get the professors to have more pride in the school athletically (some do a great job, others dont), give freshman classes professors swag to hand out

DJ for basketball gamesStudent surveys for music they'd like to hear at football games before the season/game startsCoordination between cheerleaders/band/board at football game Cards with "Forty" and "Niner" that are given to cheerleaders on opposite sides of the stadium (for properly leading the chants)Chant sheets for footballBand going through the crowd during basketball gamesHave SMA be cheer/ chant leaders in front of student sectionsHighlight packages play throughout the game"On this day", highlight big Niner victories that occurred in the past on the date a game is being playedMore skits/interactions between the action (comedy skits were at the Dayton game, was entertaining and kept the crowd engaged), same idea for footballMore highlight videos showing the tailgating atmosphere, perception can help bring people out (instead of just attending the game).Cleaner graphics on Twitter (pictures are too cluttered)Pregame meals open to everyone who wants to pay (for basketball), able to reserve tables/seats in advance for group eventsStudents in the tunnel (Bring students down into the tunnel when the team is running out, have them do chants/stuff)Encourage student section to stand up (for basketball), have fake "refs" go through the student section and hand out infractions in areas where lots of students are standing and few students are sittingShirt trade in offered during SOARDuring the week give out free Niner gear for students who are wearing other schools colors (do it consistently)Have tailgating events for non football stuff, such as soccer and baseball. You have the tent, might as well use itFind specific bars around campus and figure out a way to stream the game to their screens, even if it isn't on TV.Hand out SWAG to local bars to hang on their walls Hand out SWAG to the surrounding neighborhoods that contain Charlotte Alums (try to time it specifically after big wins to capitalize on school pride)Hand out SWAG to local fire departments/PDs, show thanksOffer free tickets to middle schoolers/highschoolers(school events)Advertise sections for football/basketball games for team building for the multiple big corporations in the area (we do this with BofA, lets do it with some of the other companies)Paint the campus green, hang flags in dorms, put stickers on stuff, hand out "tickets" to cars with other schools decals offering replacements, paints sections of concrete with 49er symbolsOffer to help pay for lettered shirts with Charlotte colors/logos on it for the fraternities/sororitiesTry to get local bands to come out and play at tailgatesHave the band march (drive) around campus to different areas that are tailgating to play musicGo into big freshman lecture classes with football coach/band to get students to come outTry to get the professors to have more pride in the school athletically (some do a great job, others dont), give freshman classes professors swag to hand out

My ideas to help marketing, something hopefully TF49 can help with.

Win games, go to the Dance and I won't care about ANY of this.

Logged

"We are not here to elevate ourselves, but the institution.” ---- Bonnie Cone 1965 in Time magazine

DJ for basketball gamesStudent surveys for music they'd like to hear at football games before the season/game startsCoordination between cheerleaders/band/board at football game Cards with "Forty" and "Niner" that are given to cheerleaders on opposite sides of the stadium (for properly leading the chants)Chant sheets for footballBand going through the crowd during basketball gamesHave SMA be cheer/ chant leaders in front of student sectionsHighlight packages play throughout the game"On this day", highlight big Niner victories that occurred in the past on the date a game is being playedMore skits/interactions between the action (comedy skits were at the Dayton game, was entertaining and kept the crowd engaged), same idea for footballMore highlight videos showing the tailgating atmosphere, perception can help bring people out (instead of just attending the game).Cleaner graphics on Twitter (pictures are too cluttered)Pregame meals open to everyone who wants to pay (for basketball), able to reserve tables/seats in advance for group eventsStudents in the tunnel (Bring students down into the tunnel when the team is running out, have them do chants/stuff)Encourage student section to stand up (for basketball), have fake "refs" go through the student section and hand out infractions in areas where lots of students are standing and few students are sittingShirt trade in offered during SOARDuring the week give out free Niner gear for students who are wearing other schools colors (do it consistently)Have tailgating events for non football stuff, such as soccer and baseball. You have the tent, might as well use itFind specific bars around campus and figure out a way to stream the game to their screens, even if it isn't on TV.Hand out SWAG to local bars to hang on their walls Hand out SWAG to the surrounding neighborhoods that contain Charlotte Alums (try to time it specifically after big wins to capitalize on school pride)Hand out SWAG to local fire departments/PDs, show thanksOffer free tickets to middle schoolers/highschoolers(school events)Advertise sections for football/basketball games for team building for the multiple big corporations in the area (we do this with BofA, lets do it with some of the other companies)Paint the campus green, hang flags in dorms, put stickers on stuff, hand out "tickets" to cars with other schools decals offering replacements, paints sections of concrete with 49er symbolsOffer to help pay for lettered shirts with Charlotte colors/logos on it for the fraternities/sororitiesTry to get local bands to come out and play at tailgatesHave the band march (drive) around campus to different areas that are tailgating to play musicGo into big freshman lecture classes with football coach/band to get students to come outTry to get the professors to have more pride in the school athletically (some do a great job, others dont), give freshman classes professors swag to hand out

My ideas to help marketing, something hopefully TF49 can help with.

Win games, go to the Dance and I won't care about ANY of this.

Obviously the end goal, but even when we're winning we need good marketing to create and convert loyal fans.And when we're not we need to do our very best to ensure games/atmosphere are fun.

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